im just thinking about a friend whos son was recently diagnosed with adhd. its an easier example to draw paralells with addiction than my kidney disease example, because a sympthom of adhd is to affect the behaviour - just like alcoholism. not so many years ago, this kid would have been called a 'bad' kid, he would hav been beaten, slapped, an the parents would have been blamed. in fact before being diagnosed he was already thrown out of playschool for violent behaviour. i understand that the treatment for adhd is speed! anyway, i think the public at large have learned to see behaviour as a symptom of mental illness in the case of adhd...but not quite there yet in the case of addiction.

you're right, and there's no use denying it: sickness causes hardship.

problems arise when you judge a persons value as a human based on which particular ailment they do or dont suffer from. you can call a drunk 'alcoholic', sure. the folly however is to associate the term 'alcoholic' with 'bad quality person'. this is ignorance (my use of the word is also not to be associated with 'bad quality person'!). in fact i think it could be argued that recovered alco's add tremendous value to society! including those that substitute dope with compulsive dogoodmanship etc! :)

I never worked as a counsellor, just did the trainings. I think the key thing to remember is that addiction is a sickness, not a crime. It can be cured, though I'd say that HFCAMPOs claim about substitution is pretty much on the mark, too. Many do indeed become compulsive dogooders, sporters, etc etc. But I think this sort of substitution, as long as its not harmful to the person or his/her surroundings, should not be seen as a bad thing. This substitution COULD be viewed in the same way as a person with kidney failure substituting sickness with dialysis...

I'm not too sure about rehabilitation for DEALERS though. Thats a different kettle of fish altogether...

i trained as a counsellor more than 20 years ago, for dope and for bereavement. Saw lots of turnarounds, some permenant, some temporary.